We are delighted to host the premiere kickoff event to Toyota’s celebration of Women’s History Month in March.
This event will provide a great opportunity to learn more from key Toyota representatives about career development, leadership, enterprise transformation, and more.
The NAWC's objectives are to network, develop, and inspire our current and future women leaders who will influence and impact Toyota across all functions of our business. At the conference, you will:
This year’s conference theme is Energized by Our Shared Purpose, as we partner to meet the needs of our customers and dealers. And, it speaks to how we strive together to deliver on our organizational goals of:
All of these topics will be highlighted at the conference.
We hope you have a great experience and leave the conference inspired, motivated, and Energized by Our Shared Purpose!
See you in March!
2023 NAWC Planning Team
The annual North American Women’s Conference (NAWC) provides a unique experience, which involves insight-sharing, networking, and engaging with Toyota’s senior executives and with women from all job levels across the One Toyota pillars and beyond.
Expanded networks and relationships created across Toyota
A strengthened Toyota through further Diversity + Inclusion across North America
Increased visibility, engagement, and empowerment of Toyota women across the organization
Stronger relationships that leverage and apply knowledge and experiences gained at the conference in the pursuit of new, innovative, and breakthrough initiatives
All times shown are in US Central Standard Time
March 2, 2023 09:00 amMarch 2, 2023 09:45 amMarch 2, 2023 10:00 am
Tetsuo Ogawa
Karen Ideno
Paula FarisMarch 2, 2023 10:15 am
Anne ChowMarch 2, 2023 11:00 amMarch 2, 2023 11:10 am
Heather Updegraff
Sabina Charfauros
Cheresse Thornhill-Goldson
Jessica Smith
Sadé Lawful
Moderator: Heather Updegraff
Panelists: Sabina Charfauros, Cheresse Thornhill-Goldson, Jessica Smith, Sadé Lawful
This session will focus on the 2022 Lexus partnership involving the Adidas School for Experiential Education in Design (S.E.E.D) and Marvel Studios Black Panther Wakanda Forever. This roundtable will feature the team of talented women who led the creative design process for the amazing Lexus RX 500h Black Panther concept vehicle. You will learn how they combined their design skill, and knowledge of adidas fashion design with the luxury of an RX and the wonderment of Wakanda. The result of this collaboration is a breathtaking concept vehicle that celebrates the second Black Panther movie. Just as important, it highlights the value of providing design and creative opportunities to women of color and fostering a better future of diverse thought leaders.
March 2, 2023 12:10 pmMarch 2, 2023 12:25 pmMarch 2, 2023 12:25 pmMarch 2, 2023 12:25 pmMarch 2, 2023 01:25 pmMarch 2, 2023 01:30 pmMarch 2, 2023 02:15 pmMarch 2, 2023 02:30 pmMarch 2, 2023 03:15 pmMarch 2, 2023 03:20 pm
Susan MacKenty BradyLet’s Thrive: Rounding Up NAWC with Susan MacKenty Brady, best-selling author, Arrive & Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership
March 2, 2023 03:50 pmMarch 2, 2023 03:55 pm
Cynthia Tenhouse
Jason Puckett
Megan JonesMarch 2, 2023 04:10 pm
Tellis BethelMarch 2, 2023 04:15 pmMarch 2, 2023 04:30 pmAdversity happens to everyone, but it doesn’t have to derail your life. Whether you are confronted with work stress, strenuous projects, or struggling to balance family time, adversity doesn’t have to be a stumbling block; think of it as a stepping stone. Join our panel discussion to see how top Toyota Executives have mastered their own destiny while remaining flexible through adversity, taking risks, and maintaining an attitude of gratitude.
Do you ever feel as if you have to change who you are to fit in? Does being your true self make you feel apprehensive? Hear from a panel of leaders who have learned to trust their true selves, their stories, and how they are cultivating a supportive and inclusive environment where others can also be inspired to be their authentic selves.
It's human nature to focus on ways to improve our weaknesses while merely acknowledging our strengths. What if we were to reverse this way of thinking and instead focus on LEVERAGING our strengths while acknowledging our weaknesses? The Power of Diversity and Inclusion in a team setting shines bright: how do we maximize each person's strengths to overcome weaknesses?
Have you heard the phrase, "change is the only constant?" This has truly become our reality. It can be exhausting, but what if it didn't have to be? Join us for a session to hear first-hand experiences from executives who lead while going through their own changes and obstacles.
In this session, we will hear from our leaders on how electrification is impacting different aspects of our future as a company, how we support our customers, and how we equip our team members for this future vision.
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." These renowned words from John Quincy Adams remind us of the importance of servant leadership and how through community involvement and giving back we can enact change in our community and in ourselves. Come join our panel of influential leaders as they share how servant leadership has shaped them as individuals and shaped their careers and their communities. Gain insights into what servant leadership means and the different ways you can contribute and make an impact whether big or small. Learn how servant leadership looks in this post-COVID environment of virtualism and how to navigate ways to energize your leadership efforts in ways that will set you apart and promote your growth and development.
How are you impacted by the time and efforts you give through community involvement? How does community involvement impact your professional role? Join us to hear from a panel of executives about how they have been impacted both personally and professionally through community involvement and from team members who have benefitted from Toyota's community involvement. Gain educational pieces on how to get the most out of your time in the community.
Akio Toyoda has challenged us to transform Toyota for the future by creating mobility for all, becoming a digitized software mobility company, continuous improvement of our products and the way we work; and strengthening our fundamentals for future growth. But exactly how do we get there? Join this breakout session to hear directly from our executives about what T360 is, who's involved, how it works, and how you can help contribute to this important company transformation to ensure Toyota becomes the premier mobility company.
Tetsuo “Ted” Ogawa is president and chief executive officer of Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMNA). In this role, Ogawa oversees all business for Toyota’s North America region, including Manufacturing, Research and Development, Sales, Marketing, Product Support, Digital Transformation, Mobility, and Corporate Resources. Prior to that role, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer, TMNA. In April of 2015, Ogawa was named Toyota Motor Corporation managing officer, deputy chief executive officer, China Region, and president, Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (TMCI). After joining Toyota in 1984, Ogawa’s roles included general manager, China Division, for Toyota Motor Corporation and serving as an expatriate from Japan at Toyota Motor Sales in Torrance, California. From January 1996 to December 2001, he served as coordinator at New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI), a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota in Fremont, California. He received a bachelor’s degree in commerce and management from Hitotsubashi University in Japan. Favorite quote: “We can, we will, we must.”
Karen Ideno is group vice president of indirect procurement for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) and environmental, social, and governance investing at Toyota Financial Services (TFS). In this role, Ideno oversees the office of procurement operations, systems, and strategy ensuring both organizations have the goods and services necessary for the companies to operate, sourcing from a diverse range of suppliers. Overseeing TFS’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing function, Ideno makes certain the company’s related initiatives are recognized and understood by the investment community.
Prior to her current position, Ideno was responsible for the company’s private label financial solutions, Toyota Financial Services’ largest-ever new business initiative. She directed all Mazda Financial Services sales and marketing activities, including sales support, product development, market planning, branding, remarketing, business analytics, and voluntary protection product strategy. Additionally, she established the operations of Bass Pro Shops Financial Services to provide consumer and dealer financing for boats and all-terrain vehicles.
Earlier in her career at Toyota, Ideno served as TFS group vice president of product, pricing, incentive planning, marketing and brand, remarketing, and business analytics. She was responsible for strategic initiatives including the establishment of the TFS brand, high-profile product introductions, the launch of consumer and dealer digital retailing solutions, the creation of the company’s corporate social responsibility department, and the assembly of a robust business analytics team.
Ideno’s extensive financial services background includes large-scale P&L responsibilities, strategic planning, leadership of corporatewide change management initiatives, achieving operational efficiencies, entrepreneurial new business development, as well as quantitative and qualitative based analyses to drive customer, dealer, and client satisfaction. Importantly, Ideno is widely recognized as a strong proponent of diversity and inclusion, and is known for developing the next generation of Toyota leaders.
Ideno is on the National Board of Governors of Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The California State Senate recognized Ideno’ s role in developing Toyota Financial Services’ corporate social responsibility strategy, particularly in “Making Life Easier” for underserved youth. She is also on the Board of the National Asian Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship. Ideno is currently serving as co-executive sponsor of the North American Advisory Council for Toyota Asian American Society in Alliance (TAASiA), and was an executive sponsor of the North American Advisory Council for Women Influencing & Impacting Toyota (WIIT) and. She was recognized as one of the 100 Leading Women by Automotive News and honored by the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce for her leadership in advancing diversity and inclusion in the workforce.
Ideno earned her Master of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from Pepperdine University, and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Paula Faris is the founder and leader of CARRY Media™, an organization that champions, advocates, and celebrates working mothers across America through resources, content and storytelling. She is an Emmy-Award winning journalist, speaker, best-selling author of Called Out and host of the Paula Faris Podcast.
With over two decades in broadcast television, Paula started her career with TV affiliates in Chicago, Cincinnati, and Dayton, cutting her teeth behind the scenes by shooting, editing, and producing. She then spent nine years at ABC News where she co-anchored Good Morning America Weekend, co-hosted The View, and launched the podcast, Journeys Of Faith with Paula Faris. She has reported on everything from politics, news, and entertainment to sports and faith, interviewing the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Tiger Woods, Kellyanne Conway, and now-president Joe Biden.
Paula runs CARRY Media™ from South Carolina while enjoying a quiet life with her husband John and their three children.
Anne Chow is a transformative business leader whose trailblazing corporate career spans over three decades in the technology and business sectors. As the first woman of color CEO in AT&T’s 140+ year history, she led AT&T Business, a $35B global operating unit comprised of more than 30,000 people. Appointed to this role in 2019, Anne guided this team, through the pandemic in the midst of unprecedented market upheaval around the world, serving customers with communications solutions across all sectors including small and medium sized businesses, global multinational enterprises, the public sector as well as nearly all of the Fortune 1000. Her leadership experiences span product management, marketing, sales, strategy, customer service, operations, network engineering and more. Currently Anne is Lead Director on the Board of Directors of FranklinCovey, a company dedicated to organizational transformation through leadership, individual effectiveness, execution, and culture.
Widely recognized for her role model inclusive leadership, driving success at the intersection of people, culture, and technology, she was named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business twice, Forbes inaugural CEO Next List of Leaders set to revolutionize American business, Most Inspiring Woman in Communications by Light Reading, and received a Gold Stevie Award as Female Executive of the Year – Business Services. Anne has also been chosen as one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Gender Equity.
As a lifelong learner committed to inspiration and impact, Anne engages with audiences through keynotes, panel discussions, and as a best-selling co-author of The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams. She also shares thoughts through her publications and social posts which have been featured in Fortune, Chief Executive Magazine, The Huffington Post, MarketWatch, and USA Today. She holds B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering as well as an MBA with Distinction from Cornell University and is a graduate of the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School of Music.
Heather Updegraff is general manager of Lexus International strategic communications at Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). She and her team are responsible for partnering with Lexus International in Japan to ensure consistent branding across the globe and creating efficiencies of regional marketing, training and global public relations (PR).
Updegraff began her career with Toyota in 2001 in a rotational program for recent MBA graduates. Since then, she has held numerous positions in Toyota Motor North America and Toyota Financial Services in various departments including marketing, product planning & strategy, strategic planning & research and consumer strategy.
Updegraff earned her BA degree from Trinity University in San Antonio and her MBA from the University of Southern California.
Updegraff lives in the Dallas area with her husband and twin, 12 year-old daughters. Outside of working for Toyota, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, reading and volunteering with her girls.
Cheresse is a global design leader who has been in the footwear industry for over 15 years. Her footwear design career began at Nike Inc. in Beaverton, OR in 2007. She launched No Shoes Creative, design consultancy, in 2016 advancing brands like Champion and adidas. As the Director of Design Education & Growth and S.E.E.D. (School for Experiential Education in Design) at adidas, Cheresse is part of the team transforming the footwear industry and cultivating the next generation of diverse design talent. In partnership with Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design, S.E.E.D. lives at the intersection of education and business. A paid, groundbreaking 2yr university alternative, footwear design program for women from diverse backgrounds creating further access and pathways into the adidas brand and sportswear industry. Cheresse guided the S.E.E.D. designers through the process of designing adidas branded costumes for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever film in collaboration with adidas innovation as well as the 2022 Lexus RX 500h F Sport Vibe-Branium concept interior in partnership with Lexus x Carbon x Marvel inspired by the film.
Jessica Smith is a thought leader in Industry Education. She has worked as a Higher Education Educator at Columbia University, Portland State University, and University California Los Angeles, and as a Global Leader in University Relations and Early Career programs for fortune 100 companies. In 2020 she co-founded an industry first education to career pathway platform S.E.E.D., School for Experiential Education in Design, a two-year college alternative program which promotes a pathway for women of color in footwear design. Jessica also leads leadership curriculum development and facilitation for S.E.E.D. Jessica has also held roles in corporate strategy, organizational transformation, and building inclusive high performing global teams.
Jessica is a Doctoral Candidate at University of Southern California in Organizational Change and Leadership publishing on the topic of Industry Education. She holds a Master’s in Education from Wake Forest University and a bachelor’s from Georgetown University. Jessica has lectured and published on topics of Leadership, Social Change and Inclusive pedagogy, most recently at SXSW, Black Footwear Forum, and Fortune Brainstorm Design.
In her free time Jessica stays busy with her two sons, sports, reading, being outdoors and spending time with loved ones.
Christine Wenger is the senior manager, enterprise change enablement at Toyota Financial Services (TFS). Her career began in technical consulting and software development, and she now enables Toyota teams to prepare for and thrive in large organizational changes.
Wenger is the co-founder of the mindfulness@Toyota program that is focused on building resilience, creativity, personal productivity, and well-being for all Toyota team members.
Wenger has extensive experience in change management, software development, technical program management, consulting, facilitation, and coaching with industry experience in financial services, education, state and local government, healthcare, manufacturing, and customer service.
Janette Hostettler serves as vice president of production at Mazda Toyota Manufacturing (MTM) – a $2.3B joint venture automotive manufacturing facility founded by Mazda and Toyota. Since assuming this role in 2018, Hostettler has overseen the development of MTM’s production system, quality department, and hiring and training for 3000 production team members.
Hostettler started her career at Toyota in July 2000 as a specialist quality engineering at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (TMMI) manufacturing plant in July 2000. In January 2017, she was promoted to general manager of assembly and assembly conveyance during which time she was responsible for the final vehicle assembly of the Sienna, Highlander and Sequoia models in 2 plants. With close to 3000 team members – she has a servant leadership approach to her management, engineering, maintenance and production teams.
Prior to this role, she was promoted to general manager over the paint, plastics and plant engineering team in 2014. Hostettler also served as the assistant general manager for the quality control engineering team in 2011. Her responsibilities included overseeing the quality systems of completed vehicle structure, both pilot and mass production, quality of supplied parts and service to shops for problem-solving support.
Outside of her direct responsibilities, Hostettler supports diversity and inclusion initiatives as an advisor for women, young professionals and Latino/Hispanic communities. She has advocated for career development opportunities in support of these communities through nonprofit board service in such organizations as the Evansville Diversity Lecture Series, Society of Women Engineers, SOAR, MTM WiW (Women inspiring Women), and Evansville High School Engineering Development Program.
Mrs. Hostettler holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana.
Hostettler and her husband, Rob, live in Madison, AL and proudly have three children – Sam, Noah and Emma - All a huge inspiration and support to a balanced working wife/mother’s life.
Jaycie Dane is a general manager for the Lexus Division. Lexus, is the luxury division of Toyota Motor North America.
Dane is responsible for all aspects of Lexus sales support, including new vehicle sales, LCertified sales, training, and market representation.
Since joining Toyota in 1992, Dane has served in a number of leadership positions at Toyota Motor North America headquarters and U.S. region distributor offices. She served as the general manager for the Lexus Central Area in Chicago, the assistant general manager for Toyota Chicago Region and corporate manager of the Scion Division. Dane also held various management positions in the Toyota Los Angeles Region office. Prior to our current role, she was most recently responsible for Lexus operations in the Latin America & Caribbean Region.
Dane earned a bachelor’s degree in Logistics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a master’s of business administration from California State University, Long Beach.
Susann Kazunas is vice president of manufacturing at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas (TMMTX), located in San Antonio, where Toyota Tundra and Sequoia trucks are produced. In this role, Kazunas is responsible for overseeing the management of all manufacturing areas including the production assembly line and operations of the weld, stamping, paint and plastics shops. Kazunas began her career with Toyota in Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1998, where she served in a variety of roles at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK), primarily in the stamping and weld area. In 2012, she transferred to a production engineering role where she oversaw North American stamping activities related to new model and manufacturing improvement initiatives. Prior to her current assignment, Kazunas worked in Toyota City, Japan at the Toyota Motor Corporation Commercial Vehicle Company. In her role, she led production engineering activities related to North American truck business. Kazunas became vice president of manufacturing at TMMTX in the summer of 2019. Kazunas grew up in central Kentucky and studied mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky. She later received a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Midway College. Kazunas was recognized as a 40-Under-40 emerging leader by Automotive News in 2014, and she received a Women in Manufacturing STEP Award from the Manufacturing Institute in 2015. This award recognizes excellence and leadership in science, technology, engineering, and production. Kazunas resides in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband and youngest daughter. Kazunas is active in the community, serving as an honorary commander at Joint Base San Antonio and as a member of the advisory board for SA WORX, an organization focused on workforce development.
Briana Nelson is the vice president – marketing, remarketing and voluntary protection products (VPP) for Toyota Financial Services. She is responsible for the various components of marketing, remarketing, and sales of voluntary protection products for Toyota Financial Service, Lexus Financial Services and Mazda Financial Services.
Nelson began her career with Toyota in 1996 as a management trainee with Toyota Motor Insurance Services (TMIS). At TMIS, she also worked as a district account manager in the Eastern Region until she joined Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) in the Boston Region in 1999. She spent nine years in Boston serving as vehicle product trainer, district sales manager, merchandising manager, market representation manager and vehicle field sales manager. In 2008, she was promoted to the sales & production planning manager at TMS’ national headquarters. During her tenure at headquarters, she also held the positions of Scion field sales manager and sales administration manager. She then went on to be the vehicle operations manager in the Los Angeles Region before becoming the assistant general manager in the San Francisco Region. In 2017, she was promoted to general manager of the Denver Region. In 2019, she was relocated to the East Coast to become the general manager of the New York Region. In July 2021, she was named general manager of Lexus Eastern. In July 2022, she was promoted to vice president – marketing, remarketing and VPP at Toyota Financial Services in Plano, TX.
Nelson received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Drake University in Des Moines, IA. She is a member of the following organizations: Chief, Impact100 Essex, JLOSH, SOMA Fox Running Club and White Rock Running Co-op.
Jacqueline Thomas is group vice president, chief compliance officer for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). Thomas is responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership over multiple departments, including internal audit, compliance and ethics, regulatory compliance, customs/trade compliance and privacy. Her division ensures compliance with laws, regulations and internal policies and procedures upholding Toyota’s commitment to integrity and principled performance.
Thomas is a member of the North American Management Council, which sets strategy and mid- to long-term business plans. She serves as an advisor to the TMNA Audit Committee, Compliance Advisory Council, and the Risk Committee and as a roundtable member of the Global Office of the Deputy Chief Risk Officer. She is the highest-ranking Latina and reports directly to the CEO.
Thomas is recognized as a thought leader on organizational and career development transformation. She has a passion for developing others and aspires to give the underserved a voice. This passion has led to serving as an active co-executive sponsor for TODOS (Toyota Organization for the Development of LatinOS) North American Advisory Council (NAAC) and executive member of ten other Toyota Business Partnering Groups, which are team member-led groups that foster a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with the Toyota mission, values, goals and objectives.
Thomas was featured in the Hispanic Executive magazine in 2018 and nominated for 100 Leading Women in North American Auto Industry in 2019 and 2020.
Thomas is active in a number of church and community programs and is currently a member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association, the Corporate Executive Board, the Compliance & Ethics Leadership Council, the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics. She previously served on the boards of the National Environmental Education Foundation and the Toyota Foundation where she chaired their respective Audit Committees.
Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP).
Michele Brown joined the Toyota family in 1998 as a management trainee in Torrance, CA and was placed in the LA Region the following year to begin her career. During her time at the LA Region (1999 – 2012), Brown held various field traveler and staff manager roles. In 2012, she had the opportunity to worked in the Lexus Western Area as the vehicle field sales manager before returning to headquarters for Management Development Rotation Program (MDRP) rotational roles in both Sales and Distribution. During this time, she also completed a rotation through the cross carline manager position within Toyota Marketing. In 2017, she was then promoted to the vehicle operations manager in the Cincinnati Region and is currently the assistant general manager in the Lexus Southern Area.
Brown is fueled by fitness, friends, lots of coffee. She also enjoys time with her daughter Fiona and husband, Kevin.
Sandra Phillips Rogers is senior vice president of corporate resources, general counsel and chief diversity officer of Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), with responsibility for the company’s legal, sustainability & regulatory affairs, social innovation, corporate shared services, and compliance and audit functions, as well as Toyota de Mexico.
In these roles, Rogers helps Toyota navigate significant business and legal challenges while supporting its expansion as a global mobility company, one that is an industry leader in autonomous, connected and sustainable vehicle technologies. She also provides strategic guidance in areas such as global transactions, sustainability and ESG (environmental, social, and governance), cybersecurity, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), privacy, government and regulatory investigations, complex litigation, labor and employment and intellectual property, among others. She serves as an advisor to the TMNA Executive Committee and is a member of the company’s global leadership team.
As chief diversity officer, Rogers leads Toyota’s long-standing efforts to advance diversity and inclusion through an integrated, holistic strategy that addresses the workplace, the marketplace and society and reflects the company’s core value of respect for people. She drives conversations, strategy and actions to attract, grow, and retain top talent at Toyota while fostering a culture of inclusion. She believes in the value of sharing best practices and leveraging diversity of thought to drive innovation and develop better solutions.
Previously, Rogers was group vice president, general counsel and chief legal officer, and chief diversity officer at TMNA. Prior to joining Toyota in June 2012, Rogers held roles leading litigation management and strategy at global law firms and at Pfizer, Inc.
Rogers is a founding member of the Center for Women in Law at The University of Texas School of Law. In 2021, she was the recipient of the Larry Schoenbrun Jurisprudence Award from ADL Texoma. In 2018, she was honored with the Outstanding Alumna Award by the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. Black Enterprise has recognized Rogers as one of its “Most Powerful Women in Corporate America” (2019), “300 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America” (2018) and “75 Most Powerful Women in Business” (2017).
Rogers serves on the corporate board of advisors for UnidosUS, the board of trustees for the University of Texas Law School Foundation, the board of directors of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, the International Women’s Forum and the SMU Tate Lecture Series. She is on the advisory council for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and a member of the Executive Leadership Council. She holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Danielle Richardson is the group manager overseeing the human resource business advisor (HRBA) team supporting Toyota Financial Services (TFS), as well as the Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) Policy team. Richardson has been in her current role since August of 2020. She reports to Terri Von Lehmden, vice president, human resources.
In addition to leading the TFS HRBA and policy teams, Richardson is responsible for providing strategic partnership to leaders and team members across TFS to enable team member development and drive business outcomes. She is also responsible for providing leadership within the internal human resources (HR) department. Her favorite part of her job is the partnership with her team and the team members and leaders she works with across the organization. Richardson also loves learning about the different areas of the business and coming up with strategic and creative solutions to solve complex business and team member related issues.
Richardson started her career with Toyota back in 1998 when she joined the Lexus customer satisfaction (CS) call center right out of college. She held several positions in the call center including CS representative, CS supervisor and innovations administrator before moving into a Lexus service and parts marketing administrator role.
Richardson has spent the last 18 years in HR holding numerous positions including organizational development consultant, training and development manager, HR business advisor and HR business advisor senior manager before taking on her current position.
Richardson is originally from Southern California and received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from California State University, Fullerton. Richardson currently resides in Frisco, Texas with her family. She’s an avid Lakers and music fan and is passionate about travel and learning about different cultures.
Jessamine Merrill is the general manager, media & digital engagement for Toyota Marketing, responsible for paid media, social media, consumer communications, and Toyota’s national website.
Prior to her current role, Merrill was general manager of product & consumer marketing for Lexus Division where she led consumer and product advertising, media buying, social media, product marketing and Lexus.com.
Merrill began her career at Toyota through the Graduate Management Associate (GMA) program, holding various positions across Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) and Toyota Financial Services (TFS), including rotations through business planning, TFS Treasury, and the Toyota Financial Savings Bank. In 2009, she joined the TFS marketing and brand team as incentives & recognition manager and later held the positions of national marketing manager and national brand manager before being promoted to general manager, marketing and brand in January 2017.
Merrill earned her Master of Business Administration from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.
Lisa Chao is general manager, enterprise cash management, treasury operations, compliance & automation at Toyota Financial Services. In this role, she is responsible for leading and developing high-performing teams to manage the company’s daily cash position, provide banking solutions, and ensure treasury servicing and compliance capabilities. She is also charged with driving innovation and strategic change in Treasury with a focus on data and automation. Prior to this role, Chao has served in a number of Treasury roles including liquidity risk management, asset liability management, and ABS operations. Chao joined TFS in the summer of 2005 as a graduate management intern. She earned her bachelor’s degree in economics and molecular and cell biology from University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from University of California, Los Angeles.
Renee Robertson is general manager of the service parts & accessories development department at Toyota Motor North America, located in Plano, TX. She has held this role since March 2021.
Robertson joined Toyota in 1991 and progressed through a series of positions in both Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky in Georgetown as well as the manufacturing headquarters in Erlanger, KY. Prior to her role in service parts & accessories development, Robertson was the general manager of production control, cost management, business planning, diversity and compliance.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky in Lexington and is a Certified Managerial Accountant (CMA). She is a board member of Young Women Lead and a founder of the Toyota North American annual women’s conference, a forum to bring women leaders from all Toyota North American affiliates together. Additionally, Robertson was a recipient of the Glass Ceiling Award from the National Diversity Council in 2013 and a 2019 Manufacturing Step Ahead Honoree.
Grace Mullings is a senior financial services executive with operational and technical experience in capital markets, private equity, banking, insurance, and public accounting. She is highly skilled in accounting policy, auditing, financial reporting, risk management, and SOX controls.
Mullings is known for her ability to hire, develop and empower colleagues, to promote a collaborative, positive and inclusive work environment, and to “work across the aisle” in creating cooperative relationships among operating and business groups.
Mullings is currently vice president and chief accounting officer at Toyota Financial Services (TFS) reporting directly to the CFO. She has gained a reputation for seeking to better understand complex issues and respectfully asking probing questions that sometimes challenge widely held beliefs.
Mullings is a 13-year veteran of TFS where she has held a variety of roles. She presently oversees all accounting matters for TFS with a staff of over 90 accounting professionals. Mullings is credited with establishing a robust accounting policy function and a strong Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and regulatory compliance discipline. She has also strengthened the financial controls throughout the company.
In 2015, after ten years at TFS, Mullings left Toyota for a position as a senior director at TPG Global Capital, a private equity firm. Here, she led the reporting and controls processes for 13 businesses in the US, the UK, India, and Hong Kong. She also played a pivotal role in the initial public offering of a REIT and several SPACS.
In 2020, Mullings was recruited back to TFS into her current role as vice president and chief accounting officer.
Earlier in her diverse financial services career, Mullings served as a vice president at Bank of America in Charlotte, NC where she held several roles in mortgage control, risk management, and financial accounting policy.
Mullings previously spent several years as a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers and earlier with Arthur Andersen.
Mullings is a CPA and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as the New York State Society of CPAs. She is also a lifetime member of the National Association of Black Accountants, through which she teaches, mentors, and presents at student and professional conferences.
Mullings earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Emmanuel College in Boston and her Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Accounting from Pace University in New York.
Mullings and her husband live in Frisco, Texas.
Kendra Abraham, general manager of finance for Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Canada (TMMC), is responsible for all areas of accounting and finance including tax and treasury, pension, cost accounting, cost management, capital expenditures and cost planning across both automotive assembly plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario which produce the gas and hybrid models of the Toyota RAV4 and the Lexus RX 350 and 450h vehicles with an annual capacity of more than 500,000 vehicles.
Prior to assuming this position, Abraham was senior manager in human resources, responsible for compensation and benefit programs for over 9,000 employees, responsible for the administration of the Toyota Pension plan, and oversaw TMMC’s payroll department.
Abraham joined TMMC in 2004 as a finance specialist, moving to human resources as a workforce planning specialist before moving into management roles.
Abraham is a Certified Professional Accountant (CPA) and holds a Master of Business degree. She has been very active in the community and currently volunteers her time with the Child Witness Centre in Kitchener, Ontario. Abraham and her husband and children live in Kitchener.
Mercedes Felix’s strong leadership skills, relentless perseverance and manufacturing expertise have been crucial to her role as a leader at Toyota. Throughout her 18-year career with Toyota, she has made her mark in many areas in the Company.
She joined Toyota in 2004 and served as paint group leader at Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California (TMMBC) plant in Tijuana, México. She later served as manufacturing development specialist role that included responsibilities of supplier development. After finishing this assignment, she served as human resources development assistant manager and subsequently as human resources manager at TMMBC until 2016, when she transferred to Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Guanajuato (TMMGT) to lead supplier engineering development, purchasing and human resources as general manager. After TMMGT´s Start of Production in December 2019, in preparation to launch TMMGT´s 2nd shift in 2020, she returned to manufacturing as paint, plastics, facilities & environmental group manager until 2022 when she was transferred to her current role as human resources general manager.
Throughout her career at Toyota, Felix has pioneered the path for women in Mexican manufacturing affiliates. As the first female Manager at Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California (TMMBC), and first general manager in Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Guanajuato (TMMGT), she feels a strong responsibility to utilize her strengths to gain developmental momentum for her organization. She continues taking the initiative to create opportunities for TMMGT and her teams to be successful.
In April 2018, Felix became Toyota´s first Mexican recipient of the Women in Manufacturing STEP Ahead Award, which is presented by the Manufacturing Institute in Washington D.C.
Felix is the mother of 2 two sons, Ivan (15 years old) and Alex (19 years old). In her free time, she enjoys traveling, watch movies and reading.
Felix holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering with specialization in Quality from the Culiacan Technological Institute.
Vani Peddineni has over 25 years of information technology experience and has been with Toyota for the last 12 years. She joined as a contingent and became a team member seven years ago. The majority of her career has been in information technology, providing technology solutions to transform business.
Within Toyota Financial Services (TFS), Peddineni has been part of several groups supporting service operations, master data, banking, commercial lending and now most recently joined data and analytics team leading enterprise data management group.
Peddineni currently serves on the Parents @ Toyota Business Partnering Group leadership team and considers her family a Toyota family, as her husband also works for Toyota. She has two kids, a son who is a high school senior and a daughter in eighth grade.
Peddineni is most passionate about mentoring and coaching next generation leaders at Toyota.
Debby Byrne is an executive program manager in the advanced product planning office of Toyota Motor North America Research and Development (TMNA R&D). She is responsible for concept planning for future R&D electrification projects.
Since starting her career with Toyota in 2005, Byrne has contributed to R&D with roles in design engineering, vehicle program management, cross-vehicle kaizen, development of North American Structural Reform, and future concept planning. She also currently serves as the executive sponsor for R&D’s Chapter of WIIT (Women Influencing and Impacting Toyota).
Byrne graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
Heather is the senior manager of enterprise transformation at TMNA where she is responsible for strategic transformation (including Transform 360) and enterprise alignment of Toyota North America’s short-, mid- and long-term strategies.
Joining Toyota in 2004, Heffner began her career in Production Engineering, including an international assignment to TMC, also spending time in Production Strategy and Corporate Planning.
Heffner has Bachelor and Master of Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech.
Jamie Boone is the director of government affairs and strategic initiatives at Toyota Motor North America. As a federal lobbyist, she represents the company’s public policy perspectives before Congress and federal policymakers. Her core areas of policy expertise include autonomous and connected vehicles, privacy, electrification, urban air mobility, and transportation. Prior to Toyota, Boone was a vice president of government affairs for the Consumer Technology Association. She is a passionate thought leader on automotive technology public policy. Boone is an experienced legislative and policy professional, having previously served as a longtime aide for Congressman Bill Shuster, last acting as his deputy chief of staff. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Women’s High Tech Coalition and Partners for Automated Vehicle Technology. Boone earned a Bachelor of Arts from Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.
Tiffany Shido is a senior manager in vehicle marketing and communications at Toyota Motor North America (TMNA).
She oversees Toyota’s electrified vehicles, the Mirai, bZ4X, Prius and Prius Prime and is responsible for developing marketing strategies and executing integrated strategic and tactical communication plans.
Over the past 20+ years, Shido held a variety of positions in product planning, strategy, and customer services. She also led planning and pricing teams working across North America, in U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico markets.
Shido graduated from University of Southern California with a double major, receiving her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Languages and Cultures.
In her free time, Shido enjoys travel and trying to pick up golf. She and her husband, Eric, are proud parents to three children, Payton, Kole and Harper.
Anna Lee is the vice president of service operations – customer service centers (CSCs).
Throughout her 24 years with Toyota Financial Services (TFS), Lee has held leadership positions in dealer credit, Toyota Financial Savings Bank (TFSB), risk, customer service center, marketing, remarketing, and completed an expat assignment at Toyota Financial Australia (TFA). Lee began her career in the dealer credit department and leveraged her lending experience in several roles within TFSB, Risk, and TFA. During her expat assignment in Australia, she ran a customer service and collections call center where she learned all aspects of call center operations. When she returned to the US, she took a leadership position at the customer service center in Chandler, Arizona, overseeing customer service, loyalty, and administrative services. As the general manager of the marketing, brand, and remarketing departments, she oversaw the marketing strategy and operations for TFS and Lexus Financial Services (LFS). In the remarketing department, she was responsible for the disposition of all off lease vehicles including pricing, inspection, transportation, and auction sales.
Lee recently rejoined the customer service centers as the vice president of service operations.
Lee earned her Bachelor of Arts and Science degrees in Political Science and Biological Science from the University of California, Irvine.
In January 2021, Carla Wright assumed the position of vice president of administration and production control within Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas (TMMTX).
Her responsibilities include oversight of TMMTXs total supply chain and 23 on-site suppliers, human relations, and internal communications. Located in San Antonio, TX, this role became the latest in Wright’s long career with Toyota, which began in 1999.
Throughout that time, Wright has held multiple executive leadership roles within Toyota’s engineering function, including stints in data management, technical strategy, cost planning, purchasing & supplier development, and her current role with administration and production control.
In addition to her executive responsibilities, she also serves as TMMTX’s regional diversity and inclusion champion, focusing on building a strong STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) pipeline for under-represented populations. She also had a vital role in the genesis of three Professional Business Partnering Group (BPG) chapters at Research & Development (R&D). She was the executive sponsor of the R&D Young Professional BPG. This organization brings young professionals within R&D together for career development and best practice sharing. She served on the original executive board for the Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF), now known as Women Influencing and Impacting Toyota (WIIT). She was a driving force behind the development of SPECTRUM, an organization whose mission is to foster an inclusive and supportive work environment that engages the talents and passions of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) and Ally team members through collaborative and educational programs to realize Toyota’s mission fully. Before joining Toyota, Wright spent time in education as an elementary teacher.
Wright is excited to start this new journey in Texas, learn manufacturing operations, further Toyota’s commitment to the surrounding community, and ensure that its diverse talent meets its fullest potential.
Beth Gottfried is Human Resources General Manager of Toyota Motor North America and leads manufacturing human resources programs across North America. As part of her role, she oversees programs impacting over 40,000 team members across North American vehicle manufacturing operations.
Over her 20-year career at Toyota, she has served in various roles, including leading talent acquisition, project management for new model vehicles and HR business partner for engineering.
Gottfried holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky and an MBA from Xavier University. She’s actively involved in the community and has served on numerous professional and non-profit advisory boards.
Meghna Sharma is a global finance executive with more than 20 years of experience driving complex financial issues, mergers & acquisitions, and enterprise-wide system implementations. She is a change agent with a passion for strategic initiatives, organizational change management and developing best-in-class business processes and teams.
Sharma has expertise in the review of financial models, US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, financial reporting, and due diligence. She is known for her ability to offer unique accounting solutions to complex business opportunities with a flair for communicating effectively to stakeholders
Sharma was brought on to Toyota’s leadership team as the director of accounting in November 2016, to lead the transformation of the company to a mobility company and adoption of a new ERP system. In her current role as group manager executive for automotive accounting she oversees the financial results for $80 Billion in revenue and related operating results for Toyota North America for sales and manufacturing entities. She oversees the lifecycle of production of a car from procurement of parts into assembly, sale, incentives, aftersales service warranty, telematics, mobility, and other services.
Prior to Toyota, Sharma worked at Sabre as Director of Airline Solutions. Her responsibilities included assisting the company in its preparation for its IPO in 2014, managing complex financial transactions and was instrumental in setting up a strong internal control framework to support the launch of a new public company. She led multiple due diligence reviews to support the organic growth of the company with acquisitions across the globe.
Sharma started her career in KPMG as an audit professional in 2000 and has international experience in the US and India across manufacturing, technology and services industries
Sharma is also a diversity, equity and inclusion champion and an advocate for innovation in education. She serves as controller on the Toyota USA Foundation. Established in 1987, the foundation has awarded millions of dollars to non-profit organizations in the United States. The Foundation is committed to enhancing the quality of education by supporting innovative programs and building partnerships with organizations dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Sharma is a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, as well as the Indian Chartered Accountants Association and the Ascend Executive Network. She currently serves as a board member at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science to support the future vision of the Museum and advise on financial matters and service to the community. Sharma previously served as Treasurer on the Board of Lily Foundation, a non-profit supporting education for underprivileged children and women in India and the USA from 2018-2021. She championed increasing grant giving in the US and fundraising efforts with an expansion in community service events in Dallas/Fort Worth.
"The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.” – John Maxwell
Rhonda Gilyard received her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Davis. She started her Toyota career almost 22 years ago. Her entry role into Toyota was at TABC (located in Long Beach, Ca.) as a quality engineer for the catalytic component business. TABC is the oldest Toyota affiliate in North America and produces component parts for the Tacoma and other diverse products for Toyota and external customers.
After spending nearly 12 years in the quality department serving at different levels in the organization, Gilyard rotated to manufacturing to learn more about the business. As the production manager where she was responsible for all of production including, stamping, body weld, hybrid battery, and converter canning, she was given a new-found passion in supporting her team members. Gilyard recalls many proud and exciting moments as a Toyota team member, but the one that stands out in her mind is being recognized as a 2015 Step Award recipient in Washington, D.C.
Gilyard rotated to administration where she had responsibility for safety, quality, human resources, training, medical services, security and purchasing. After 18 years of supporting TABC, she rotated to Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California (TMMBC) located in Tijuana, Mexico as general manager of administration. This position has reinforced past learnings and has shown that no matter where you are in the Toyota world, some things are universal, such as the importance of defining success in terms of teams, working together, problem solving and especially respect for people and continuous improvement – the cornerstones of Toyota.
Gilyard’s most recent role is general manager of product quality and technical evaluation. In this role, she and her team are responsible for ensuring good quality raw materials and chemicals, sheet steel and fasteners, as well as electrical parts. Her team is also responsible for material testing and material, part and vehicle evaluation.
Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, participating in church activities and auxiliaries such as the choir, leading STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) workshops for elementary to high school girls, praise dancing, weightlifting, sewing and writing. She also enjoys participating in various community service activities on her own and through her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where she has been a member for over 32 years.
Bonnie Clinton is vice president and chief procurement officer, indirect procurement shared services for Toyota North America. In this role, she is responsible for the strategic leadership and services that support the business units of Toyota Financial Services and Toyota Motor North America for indirect supplier goods and services. These departments include strategic and operations sourcing, procurement process and controls, spend analytics, knowledge management and enterprise vendor risk management. She also participates in collaboration efforts with Toyota global entities to further leading practices and achieve greater spend optimization. During Clinton’s tenure at Toyota, she has held leadership positions in accounting & finance and corporate shared services.
Clinton is Chair Emeritus of the Dallas/Fort Worth Minority Supplier Development Council and serves on Texas Women’s Foundation Board as the cochair of the Economic Leadership Council. Clinton received an MBA from the University of La Verne, California, and a Certificate in Contract Management from the University California Irvine.
Darryn Hyman joined Toyota Financial Services (TFS) in October of 2008, and currently holds the role of Toyota Leadership Academy (TLA) manager. Hyman graduated from Hampton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing. The first 10+ years of his corporate career were spent at Ford Motor Company, and then Nissan Motor Corporation, where he held various field sales, service, franchising, and regional management positions. The majority of his TFS tenure has been spent in multiple roles within the field sales and operations organization. This current role of the TLA Manager was created because of the great work that the TFS TLA Tiger Team, which was formed by the TFS executive committee, did to develop a program that would transform education and grow equity at the grade school level. Hyman is a follower of Jesus Christ and in his spare time, enjoys doing ministry work with his beautiful wife, Tamika, and their five children.
David Christ (pronounced “Crist”) is the group vice president and general manager of the Toyota Division at Toyota Motor North America, Inc., where he is responsible for leading all sales, marketing, and market representation, plus all guest experience and retention activities for Toyota regional sales offices and distributors.
Prior to this role, Christ served as group vice president and general manager of Lexus, responsible for all aspects of U.S. Lexus automotive operations, including sales, marketing, customer service and dealer operations. He also served as Lexus vice president of sales operations responsible for national sales, area offices, dealer development, certified pre-owned vehicle program, and Lexus College.
He joined Lexus from the Toyota division where he was vice president of sales operations, responsible for working with key stakeholders, including Toyota dealers, to achieve the company’s goals. Christ also held a key role at Toyota Financial Services (TFS) where he was responsible for maximizing finance and lease contract volume while managing credit quality and delivering on sales objectives.
Since joining Toyota in 1994, Christ has served in several managerial positions at the regional sales offices and Toyota Motor Sales (TMS). In addition to serving as general manager of the New York Region, Christ was general manager of the Lexus Southern Area and the assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Region. He held various management positions in the Central Atlantic Region, as well as worked at TMS in the sales, distribution operations, and customer retention departments.
Prior to joining Toyota, Christ worked for a Toyota dealership in New Jersey. He worked in the service and sales departments.
Christ received his bachelor’s degree from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, and his MBA from the University of Maryland.
Ellen Farrell is group vice president and chief legal, compliance and administrative officer of Toyota Financial Services (TFS). In this capacity, Farrell oversees the company’s legal department and enterprise compliance department, providing guidance to support TFS business objectives. She also leads the TFS strategy, enterprise transformation, and change management functions, directing the organization’s strategic planning activities to provide actionable insights for the company’s senior leadership team. The indirect procurement team for TFS and Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) plus the TFS environmental, social, and governance investing function report to Farrell, as does the TFS Academy which provides a wide range of educational solutions to build employee capabilities.
Farrell serves on the Toyota Financial Services International Corporation management committee, as well as the board of directors of Toyota Financial Savings Bank. Farrell also chairs the global compliance functional committee at Toyota Financial Services Corporation (TFSC) in Japan and advises TFSC senior management on global compliance and legal trends.
Before her current role, Farrell served as vice president of social innovation for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), as well as executive advisor to TMNA Legal. In that capacity, she was strategic advisor to both TMNA’s chief legal officer and its social innovation division, which leads the company’s diversity & inclusion, philanthropy/community relations, environmental sustainability, and workforce readiness efforts.
Previously, Farrell was head of product law and head of legal operations, responsible for overall management of the defense of product liability- and warranty-related claims and lawsuits involving Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles in North America. She partnered with various client business units to mitigate operational and product-related risks, and to promote customer satisfaction. In addition, Farrell oversaw the TMNA law department’s technology and business operations functions, including its Partnering Program, of which a key goal is to promote diversity & inclusion among the counsel who represent Toyota.
Prior to joining Toyota in 1999, Farrell was with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Los Angeles, California.
Farrell is a member of the board of directors of WiNGS, a Dallas-area non-profit whose mission is to empower women, fight poverty, and impact generations; as well as a member and president-elect of the board of directors of Resource Center, the primary LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) and HIV/AIDS service organization in North Texas. She also serves on the Dallas leadership committee for Lambda Legal, the board of advisors for the Robert B. Rowling Center for Business Law & Leadership at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, and the executive board of the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University.
Farrell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Managerial Studies from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and her Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles.
Jennifer Jackson is the remarketing sales & operations manager for Toyota, Lexus, and private label business partners. Her role manages the remarketing field sales team, national footprint of auction sites and oversees the liquidation of all off-lease, company vehicles and repossessed assets.
Jackson has close to 20 years of extensive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) experience from Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), Toyota Financial Services (TFS) and Nissan North America. She started her career with TMNA in 2004 as a management trainee (MT) and spent seven years in the San Francisco (SF) Region. While in the SF Region, she held various roles including district service & parts manager and district sales manager. She later transitioned into leadership roles at Nissan North America serving as regional market representation manager, regional certified pre-owned manager and regional parts & service operations manager. Jackson returned to the Toyota family and began her TFS career at the Los Angeles West dealer sales and service office (DSSO). She previously held the roles of area sales manager and product manager.
Jackson is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently continuing her education in the Master of Business Administration program at Louisiana State University. Jackson and her husband Demetrius have been married for six years. In their free time together, they enjoy serving the community with involvement in multiple youth outreach initiatives.
Jennifer Jao is Toyota Motor North America’s information technology Executive leading the mobility production systems transformation in research and development (R&D), manufacturing, vehicle and parts supply chain.
Jao started her career as a Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) production control analyst in 1993. She has since served in several leadership positions in parts supply chain, manufacturing, and information technology.
Jao leads a talented diverse team, delivering world class IT modern technology with data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning capabilities, enabling Toyota to become a mobility company. She strives to exceed customers’ expectations, produce happiness for all, create mobility for all, with the Toyota Way.
Natalie Wilkinson is the general manager of strategic business management and production support center for Toyota North America (TMNA). A graduate of Oakland City University with a Bachelor’s in Marketing, Wilkinson began in 2001 at Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Indiana (TMMI) where the Sienna, Highlander, & Sequoia vehicles are produced. She worked through different aspects of Production Control including parts ordering, logistics, packaging, supplier development and new model management before she moved to the manufacturing floor as the senior manager of body weld conveyance and then continuing to become the senior manager of the East Body Weld shop. In 2017, she transferred from TMMI to TMNA to take on a newly developed position supporting the executive office in Plano and from there joined Corporate Strategy & Planning (CS&P) and then rotated back to manufacturing strategic business management (SBM) / North American Production Support Center (NAPSC) in 2020.
During her time at Toyota, she has also started two main Business Partnering groups at TMMI, the Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF) and the African American Collaborative (AAC) and led the development of Department Diversity Committees while being a member of the Diversity Advisory Council. Outside of Toyota, she has served as the Vice-Chair of the Girl Scouts of Southern Indiana Board of Directors where she has been a delegate at the National Council Meeting and became Chair of the Board in 2018.
In her spare time, Wilkinson and her husband Greg enjoy attending the many sporting functions of her two sons, Triston & Chase. Her boys attend Kentucky Wesleyan & Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology where she is an active member in the booster clubs, CFPC, and various support committees.
Shayne Carter is the general manager responsible for business revolution and transformation in enterprise strategy. She is leading the Transform 360 effort setting and activating the 2030 vision and enterprise initiatives to transform into a vehicle and mobility company.
Prior to her current assignment, Carter held the role of general manager for the brand engagement center (BEC) responsible for bringing the Toyota and Lexus contact centers together and transforming the guest experience.
Since beginning her career at Toyota in 1998, Carter has held a variety of roles in product planning and strategy including, pricing all Toyota and Lexus models sold in the US, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. In addition, Carter was responsible for planning Toyota Trucks, SUV’s, multimedia, telematics, advanced technologies, safety and color strategies.
Carter is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Siani Kiyonaga is the strategic research and innovation, senior manager for Toyota Financial Services.
In this role, Kiyonaga manages a group within the corporate strategy division focused on providing Toyota Financial Services research-based actionable insights to develop innovative solutions, delivering customer value and business growth.
Previously, Kiyonaga oversaw marketing efforts for the Toyota vehicle brand as the Toyota Brand, growth audiences and cross vehicle line marketing, senior manager. In that capacity she headed a team to develop strategies and campaigns to enhance the Toyota vehicle brand, capture growth audiences including multicultural and identity-based segments and highlight the brand’s technology and safety product portfolio.
Earlier on, Kiyonaga was the strategy and business planning senior manager for connected vehicle technologies, a division of Toyota Motor North America. There, she was responsible for the strategic planning of Toyota and Lexus multimedia systems, including financial planning, volume forecasting, and brokering new business partnerships.
During her tenure at Toyota, Kiyonaga has held several additional positions in the areas of business development, product planning and pricing.
Before Toyota, Kiyonaga worked at Sony Pictures Entertainment, in the International Licensing, Internet Marketing Strategy and Market Research Departments.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and an M.B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles Anderson School of Management.
SUSAN MACKENTY BRADY is the Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women and Leadership at Simmons University and the first Chief Executive Officer of The Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership. www.inclusiveleadership.com. The Institute develops the mindset and skills of leaders at all stages of life so they can foster gender parity and cultures of inclusion. As a relationship expert, leadership wellbeing coach, author, and speaker, Susan educates leaders and executives globally on fostering self-awareness for optimal leadership. Susan advises executive teams on how to work together effectively and create inclusion and gender parity in organizations. She is passionate about working with women at all levels of organizational leadership to fully realize—and manifest—their leadership potential. Featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, Susan is the author of four books, including the Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Arrive & Thrive: 7 Essential Practices of Women Navigating Leadership (McGraw-Hill, April 2022). Her other titles include: The Inclusive Leader's Playbook (Simmons University), Mastering Your Inner Critic and 7 Other High Hurdles to Advancement: How the Best Women Leaders Practice Self-Awareness to Change What Really Matters (McGraw-Hill), and The 30-Second Guide to Coaching Your Inner Critic. A celebrated speaker, Susan has keynoted or consulted at over 500 organizations around the world. Prior to joining Simmons, Susan was Executive Vice President at Linkage, Inc. a global leadership development consulting and training firm. She founded Linkage's Women in Leadership Institute™ and launched Linkage’s global practice on Advancing Women Leaders and Inclusive Leadership, and led the field research behind the 7 Leadership Hurdles Women Leaders Face in the Workforce™. Dedicated to inclusively and collaboratively inspiring every girl to realize her full potential, Susan serves as emeritus board member of the not-for-profit Strong Women, Strong Girls. Susan lives in the Boston area, has two awesome teenage daughters and two adorable Portuguese Water Dogs.
Cynthia Tenhouse is vice president of Lexus guest experience and retention. In this role, she is responsible for the overall customer journey and guest experience; voice of the customer analytics; parts and services for dealers; and contact center operations for both Toyota and Lexus.
Most recently, Tenhouse served as vice president of Toyota vehicle marketing and communications. She was responsible for product lifecycle management; brand and product marketing strategies; creative asset production; product and sales training; and Toyota’s tier 2 dealer advertising strategy and assets.
Tenhouse also served as the general manager of Lexus product and consumer marketing. In this role, she was responsible for product lifecycle management; marketing strategy; advertising creative; and the digital consumer experience. She also served as general manager of Lexus International Strategic Communications, overseeing global marketing and PR communication strategy to expand and strengthen the Lexus brand around the world.
Tenhouse began her career with Toyota in 1996. During her years with Toyota, she has experienced many different parts of the company not already mentioned, including Toyota customer relations, Toyota Motor insurance services, North American parts operations, Toyota Motor Corporation overseas marketing (Tokyo, Japan), and Lexus field operations. During her 2 years spent in Tokyo Japan, Tenhouse had the opportunity to help lead the creation of the global Lexus brand. Nearly half of her career was spent in the field supporting Lexus dealers, where she served as the assistant general manager in Lexus central before returning to Toyota headquarters in 2017.
Tenhouse is passionate about building amazing teams and developing talent within the organization. She is a champion of leading change to support Toyota’s evolution into a mobility company. Tenhouse is an active member of many of Toyota’s Business Partnering Groups, which help foster diversity and inclusion and develop diverse talent. Finally, Tenhouse is married to her husband, Neil, and a proud mama to their 10-year old daughter, Ella. In addition to enjoying outdoor adventures with Neil and Ella, she is an avid road cyclist and is fueled by sunshine and espresso.
Tenhouse has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Japanese from the University of Illinois.
Jason Puckett is president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Inc., (TMMAL) in Huntsville, Alabama. He is responsible for all production and administration functions at the manufacturing facility, which produces four- and six-cylinder engines for seven North American assembled Toyota vehicles. TMMAL directly employs 1,800 and represents at $1.5 billion investment.
Previously, Puckett served as vice president of administration at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (TMMI), where he also served as vice president of manufacturing and general manager of body weld and stamping.
Puckett also served as general manager of corporate strategy at Toyota’s manufacturing and engineering headquarters responsible for overall manufacturing strategic initiatives in North America. He started his Toyota career at TMMI in 1997 as a specialist in assembly preceding TMMI’s start of production, and has held a number of positions in assembly and production control.
Puckett holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kentucky. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Evansville. Puckett is a member of Committee of 100 and serves on the board of the Business Council of Alabama, the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, and the Huntsville/Madison County Port Authority. Jason and his wife Tonya have two grown children and one grandson. In their spare time, Jason and Tonya enjoy travel, hiking, and the outdoors.
Megan Jones is a senior manager in Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) final assembly engineering (FAE). She is responsible for the assembly logistics engineering team aiming to revolutionize vehicle plant material handling automation from dock to assembly line and beyond.
Joining Toyota in 2006 as an engineering co-op student, Jones has held roles as manager for TMNA maintenance and spare parts engineering (MSP), and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) assembly production engineering (PE) where she led Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) implementation and was Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi mother plant support.
Jones is currently the recognition lead for Women Influencing and Impacting Toyota (WIIT) North American Advisory Committee (NAAC) and previously served as WIIT, Georgetown Chapter Co-Chair. She is passionate about making Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and manufacturing careers a top choice for women through her work as a member of Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Women in Manufacturing (WiM).
Prior to Toyota, Jones was a central quality engineer and a materials lead at GE Consumer and Industrial.
Jones graduated from the University of Louisville with a Master’s of Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s of Business Administration.
Tellis Bethel is group vice president and chief social innovation officer for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). Bringing his personal passion for advancing equity to the role, he oversees TMNA’s strategic partnerships, philanthropic efforts, and diversity and inclusion activities. With the goal of ensuring mobility for all, Bethel directs initiatives to expand access to opportunities and create a culture of inclusion that strengthens both communities and TMNA. With over fifteen years of experience with Toyota Financial Services, Bethel’s background in finance and analytics enhances his current position, connecting the dots between data and market share and substantiating the impact of TMNA’s social innovation efforts on business and relationships. Bethel began his career with Toyota Financial Services as a Graduate Management Team Member (GMTM) in risk management planning with an emphasis on financial hedging activities. He subsequently served as financial risk manager, analytics manager, sales finance manager, business marketing manager, credit risk senior manager, and general manager of Finance and Business Analytics. Most recently, Bethel was vice president of voluntary protection products, where he led the business unit responsible for $300M+ in operating income annually from the origination of optional products when financing Toyota, Lexus, and Mazda vehicles. Bethel holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Clark Atlanta University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University. With a commitment to enhancing accessibility for everyone and making inroads for future generations, Bethel devotes his time and resources to marginalized groups, including the Boys & Girls Club of America, Junior Achievement USA, North Texas Food Bank, TutorMe, and HBCUs (including his alma mater), as well as HSIs. Within Toyota, Bethel participates in affinity groups focused on women and LGBTQ+ segments and has been recognized with the Diversity Champion Award for 2022 and the president’s award for his community involvement. In his free time, Bethel enjoys following the financial markets, exercise and travel. He and his wife Crysti are the proud parents of two children, Myles and Nia. Favorite Quote: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” – Richard Branson
We are offering three (3) options for the Networking session during the lunch break (12:25 pm - 1:25 pm CST).
Please pick one (1) when registering if you would like to participate.
The following locations will be hosting an in-person WIITnections. This is an opportunity to connect with each other and executives in an engaging in-person session. Once you register, your local WIIT chapter will contact you.
Virtual WIITnections is a platform to connect with an executive in a small group setting. Each table will host an executive who will lead the conversation. This is a great opportunity to engage with leadership and bring your FAQs. Join us for an exciting conversation where you will make lasting connections!
Table topics will include:This 40-minute virtual class (via Teams) will begin with working on your hips. The longer you sit, the tighter and weaker those hip flexors become. We will work on mobility, flexibility, and strengthening your hip flexors. Then we will follow up with some Pilates. Pilates is a strengthening and lengthening form of exercise that focuses on your core (trunk) muscles while also training your arms and legs. Having a strong core improves your posture! Learn more about the instructor.
Group Vice President
TFS Environmental, Social & Governance Investing and Toyota Indirect Procurement
See Bio 
WIITnections (In-Person or Virtual) or Wellness (Virtual)